The present invention relates generally to automated vehicle wash systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and methodology for processing car wash vouchers.
In the vehicle care industry, car wash tunnels provide a variety of automated car wash services at both stand alone car wash sites and at gas stations. A customer may select from basic wash services, waxing options, under carriage wash options, and the like, and the services are provided through automated brushes, sprayers, pumps, conveyors, and dryers in the car wash tunnel. The various washing, waxing, and drying apparatus in the tunnel are typically actuated by a control system providing control signals to implement the desired wash services.
At many full service car washes, one or more attendants greet the customer at the tunnel entrance. The customer informs an attendant of the wash services desired, who then obtains payment from the customer, and inputs a list of wash services into the control system. The attendant may drive the vehicle to the entrance of the tunnel where a conveyor moves the vehicle through the tunnel. Optional vacuuming services may be provided by an attendant prior to the vehicle entering the tunnel. As the customer vehicle travels through the car wash tunnel, the control system actuates the necessary washing devices at appropriate times in accordance with the list of services entered by the attendant. Windows may be provided in the side of the wash tunnel whereby the customer may view the washing process. An attendant typically enters the vehicle at the exit end of the tunnel conveyor, and drives a short distance out of the tunnel whereupon final drying and/or other detailing services may be performed manually. The waiting customer thereafter drives away in a cleaned vehicle.
Many gas stations provide car washes along with fuel sales, food and beverage sales, and other services. A car wash tunnel is provided on the premises, which is typically a low cost car wash offering few or no optional wash services. At many such multi-service sites, a customer may purchase a car wash in association with fuel or other purchases, which are paid for in a single commercial transaction. Typically, the customer receives a receipt from a station attendant which includes a numeric or alphanumeric code. A keypad or other character entry device is positioned near the car wash tunnel entrance, with which the customer enters the code to obtain entrance to the car wash. The provision of the code allows the customer to purchase a car wash which may be used contemporaneously with the purchase, or at a later time.
In some situations, one or more optional wash services may be available at such a car wash. A customer desiring such services may pay an upgraded car wash fee when making the initial purchase. The code provided to the user may contain information used by the automated car wash control system to provide these optional services upon entry of the code at the tunnel entrance. Thus, the control system for the car wash tunnel may provide different control signals to the actuating devices therein depending on the code provided by a customer. The code provides customers with a variety of car wash service choices without requiring an attendant at the tunnel entrance to program a list of services into a control system. Consequently, many gas stations include unattended car wash tunnels on the premises, offering a certain number of car wash choices at a minimal cost to the customer.
In today""s multi-service gas stations, sophisticated point-of-sale (POS) systems include one or more cash registers, credit card readers, character displays, fuel pump control interfaces, and the like. Such systems allow station attendants to interact with the various systems (e.g., fuel pumps) associated with the station, and to efficiently accept payment for fuel and other goods sold in the station. Conventional car wash entrance codes are provided to the customer on a printed receipt, such as a cash register receipt. A POS system may provide the car wash code according to a pre-defined protocol to include the desired optional car wash services purchased by a customer, such that entry of the code into the car wash control system keypad interface results in the correct tunnel operation.
Although such car wash code numbers reduce or eliminate the attendant interaction with the system, the use of a pre-defined coding protocol allows unscrupulous persons to construct tunnel access codes with which car washes may be obtained without payment. In addition to constructing car wash codes from a protocol, unpaid for washes may be possible through reuse of a code that was legitimately issued by a POS system. Moreover, conventional systems do not provide for tracking of car wash code utilization, attempted reuse of codes, and/or the attempted usage of invalid codes in a multi-site carwash chain or system. It is therefore desirable to provide a system which prevents the provision of automated car wash services where such services have not been properly paid for.
In many gas station chains, car wash services may be provided at many different sites in a chain or network. Customers purchasing a car wash at one site in a chain may wish to obtain the car wash at a later date. However, it may be desirable to sell car washes where the wash services are available only for a certain time period. In addition, conventional automated car wash systems do not allow a customer to purchase a car wash at one site in the chain and to obtain the car wash services at another site.
The present invention provides a system and methodology by which the above mentioned problems and shortcomings are minimized or overcome. The invention provides a system and methodology for processing a car wash voucher code in a multi-site car wash system. The system obtains the voucher code from a voucher and determines whether the voucher code is expired or has been previously used. For example, a voucher code may be expired a certain time period (e.g., 30 days) after sale. The voucher may be created by a POS which need not be electrically connected with the site management system. The system maintains a network management database accessible by site management servers located at individual sites in the chain, which includes information related to usage and validity of voucher codes. Individual site management servers or systems may access the database information periodically or upon presentation of a voucher code at a car wash site, in order to determine whether the code is valid. Based on the validity determination, car wash services are selectively provided according to desired wash service information obtained from the voucher code, as well as additional or upgraded services desired by a car wash customer at the time the voucher is presented.
The site management system determines the validity of a voucher code by obtaining voucher code related information from a network or chain management system which maintains a database of voucher code usage information, thus allowing a determination at any site in the network or chain of whether the voucher has been previously used. Services at a site may thus be selectively provided or denied based on previous usage information, to prevent unauthorized or unpaid for washes. The voucher code may also include car wash service information which the system provides to a car wash tunnel control system, as well as sale date information. The site management system may determine the latency of the voucher code based on the sale date information in the voucher code in order to determine whether the voucher code has expired. Car wash services may accordingly be denied where a code has expired. The system further provides the capability of obtaining voucher code status and usage reports from any site in the chain. In addition, the invention includes methodologies for processing voucher codes in a car wash system.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing a car wash voucher code in a multi-site car wash system, which comprises receiving the voucher code from a user interface, determining the validity of the voucher code, selectively providing at least one car wash service according to the validity of the voucher code, and sending information relating to the voucher code to a network management system having a database. The user interface may include, for example, a barcode reader adapted to read a voucher code from a printed voucher such as a cash register or POS system receipt, and/or a keypad with which an attendant or a customer may enter a numeric, alphanumeric, or other type of voucher code.
According to another aspect of the invention, the voucher code may comprise sale date information, whereby a site management system may determine a latency value for the voucher code based on the sale date information, compare the latency value for the voucher code with a latency threshold, selectively expire the voucher code and refuse car wash services if the latency value for the voucher code is greater than the latency threshold, and selectively provide one or more car wash services according to the voucher code if the latency value for the voucher code is less than or equal to the latency threshold. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention further comprises selectively providing car wash services if the latency value is less than the latency threshold, and refusing such services if the latency value is greater than or equal to the latency threshold. The latency threshold may be used by a car wash provider to ensure that car wash services are available only for a certain time period following sale thereof. The system may also provide the customer with an indication that the voucher code has expired via the user interface. The network management system database may be provided with information concerning the attempted usage of an expired voucher code so that management personnel may track voucher code expiration through database queries and reports.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the method may further include obtaining information from the network management system database related to the voucher code, determining whether the voucher code has been previously used according to the information from the network management system database, selectively invalidating the voucher code and refusing car wash services if the voucher code has been previously used, and selectively providing at least one car wash service according to the voucher code if the voucher code has not been previously used. In this manner, a car wash voucher may not be used at a first chain site and then reused at the same or a different chain site. The network management system database may be provided with information relating to the attempted reuse of a voucher code to provide the ability to track such attempts, and the user interface may indicate to the person presenting the voucher code for reuse that the code has been previously used.
According to still another aspect of the invention, the voucher code includes information relating to the car wash services desired by the customer at the time the voucher was purchased. In this regard, the method may further comprise receiving information from the user interface relating to at least one additional car wash service, selectively providing the desired car wash service based on the voucher code according to the validity of the voucher code, and selectively providing the additional car wash service or services according to the information from the user interface. The method thus allows a customer to upgrade a car wash previously paid for via a user interface. Another aspect of the invention provides for encryption of the voucher code by the issuing (POS) system, and decryption thereof by the site management system in order to prevent unauthorized creation of voucher codes.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method of auditing car wash voucher code usage in a car wash system having a database including information relating to voucher code usage, a user interface, and a manager interface. The method includes receiving a database query from the management interface, obtaining a result set from the database according to the database query, and selectively providing a report relating to voucher code usage to the management interface according to the result set. A manager may thus audit voucher code usage at one, some, or all sites in a car wash site chain from any site in the chain.
In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, each site management system may receive a voucher code from the user interface, which includes sale date information, provide an indication in the database that the voucher code has been presented to the system, determine a latency value for the voucher code according to the sale date information, and selectively provide an indication in the database that the voucher code has expired if the latency value for the voucher code exceeds a latency threshold. This ensures that any site management system subsequently obtaining voucher related information from the network management system database will be able to determine that the voucher code has expired, and that an attempt was made to use the expired code. The method may further include determining whether the voucher code has been previously used, and selectively providing an indication in the database that another usage of the voucher code has been attempted if the voucher code has been previously used. This allows auditing, via the database, of latency, expiration, and validity information associated with one or more voucher codes.
According to another aspect of the invention, the system may include a plurality of car wash sites, wherein each car wash site has a site code associated therewith, and wherein the voucher code includes a sale site code. The invention further comprises obtaining the sale site code from the voucher code, providing an indication in the database of the sale site code associated with the voucher code, providing an indication in the database of a site code associated with the site at which the voucher code was presented, and providing an indication in the database of the date on which the voucher code was presented. Thus, in a multi-site car wash chain or network, a report may be obtained indicating the sale site code, presentation site code, sale date, and presentation date information associated with one or more voucher codes. Further tracking and reporting are provided with respect to the types of car wash services being provided, including add-on or upgrade services.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is. provided a car wash management system comprising a site management server including a communications interface operative to communicate with a network management system, a user interface adapted to receive a voucher code from a customer and/or an attendant, and operative to send the voucher code to the site management server, and a car wash control system adapted to receive car wash service information from the site management server and to provide control signals to a car wash. The site management server may be operative to receive the voucher code from the user interface, determine the validity of the voucher code, selectively provide car wash service information to the car wash control system according to the validity of the voucher code, and provide information relating to the voucher code to the network management system. The user interface may include a barcode reader adapted to read the voucher code from a voucher, and/or a numeric, alphanumeric or other type of keypad or appropriate code input device adapted to receive the voucher code from an operator.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, information may be obtained from and/or provided to the network management system via one of several methods. These may include direct access to a network management system database, Internet E-mail messages, dedicated communications links, and the like. Thus, the connection between any individual site and the network management system may be continuous or intermittent. In addition, individual car wash sites may include local databases which are accessed locally and updated with changes from other sites via a database replication process, wherein replication packets are sent from a site with changes made at the site, and received with changes from other sites and/or the network management system. In this manner, each such site may maintain a local database which is quickly accessible for retrieval of voucher code related information. Such local databases may be updated via replication packets, whereby each such database may include the latest information relevant to processing such voucher codes.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a computer-readable medium is provided, having computer-executable instructions for receiving a voucher code from a user interface, determining the validity of the voucher code, selectively providing one or more car wash services via a car wash control system, and sending information relating to the voucher code to a network management system having a database.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with reference to the attached drawing figures. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative applications and aspects of the invention. These are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other aspects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.